Rob Dobson, director at report compiler IHS Markit, said the manufacturing sector had kicked off the third quarter on a “solid footing”.

He said: “Although the exchange rate remains a key driver of export growth, manufacturers also benefited from stronger economic growth in key markets in the euro area, North America and Asia-Pacific regions.

“Continued expansion is also still filtering through to the labour market, with the latest round of manufacturing job creation among the best seen over the past three years. ”

The report also said pricing pressures eased further for manufacturers, with input prices rising at their weakest pace in over a year.

This gives hope that soaring UK inflation may begin to wane, relieving pressure on cash-strapped consumers.

It comes ahead of the Bank of England’s interest rates decision on Thursday, with speculation over whether policymakers will vote for a rise to offset surging inflation.

Mr Dobson said: “If this trend of milder price pressures is also reflected in other areas of the UK economy, this should provide the Bank of England sufficient leeway to maintain its current supportive stance until the medium-term outlook for economic growth becomes less uncertain.”

But economists warned the solid manufacturing figures would not be enough to spur on wider UK growth.

The UK economy struggled to gather pace following a lacklustre start to the year, with growth ticking up to 0.3% in the second quarter from 0.2% in the first three months.

Samuel Tombs at Pantheon Macroeconomics said: “Markit’s survey remains consistent with only modest growth in manufacturing output that will provide insufficient compensation for the slowdown in the consumer sectors of the economy.”

James Smith, an economist at ING, added: “Wider economic data, from the weak second-quarter growth reading to the latest dip in consumer confidence, suggests that the economy is losing speed.

“For that reason, we think the Bank of England is unlikely to hike rates this year.”